The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most powerful occupants of that office in the nation's history. Although countless VPs were confined to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any non-communicating planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, making him become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I believe it presently."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a document outlining circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's face that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were both weak or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen emerge from his domain? It's a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had little experience in business but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation grew from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
